Frequently Asked Questions about the World Social Forum 2007

Contents

1. What is the World Social Forum?
2. How did the World Social Forum process begin?
3. When and where did the previous World Social Forums take place?
4. What is the WSF2007 Memory?
   
5. How can I contribute to the Memory Project?
6. What is the 4th day propasals?
7. How can I participate in the 4th day proposals?
8. When was the World Social Forum 2007 held?
9. Where did the 7th WSF take place?
10. WSF2007 statistics?
11. Who organized the WSF2007?
12. What were the functions of the Organizing Committee?
13. Did the World Social Forum 2007 use volunteers?
14. Who participated in the WSF2007?
15. What is a self-organised activity?
16. What were the thematic axes for the WSF2007?
17. Can I register my organzation after 2007?
18. What is the WSF Common Space?
19. Were the audio of the activities recorded?
20. How can I contact the WSF2007 Secretariat?

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1. What is the World Social Forum?

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organisations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, to formulate proposals, to share their experiences freely and to network for effective action.

The World Social Forum is characterised by plurality and diversity, is non-confessional, non-governmental and non-party. It proposes to facilitate decentralised coordination and networking among organizations engaged in concrete action towards building another world, at any level from the local to the international, but it does not intend to be a body representing world civil society.

The World Social Forum is neither a group nor an organisation. It is a space as well as a process where actors in civil society worldwide express solidarity, benefit from collective action and develop initiative. For more information see WSF Charter of principles.

2. How did the World Social Forum process begin?

The World Social Forum process dates back to 1998, when the proposal for a Multilateral Agreement on Investments were made public - a kind of World Constitution for Capital, which would give capital all the rights and almost no duties - especially in Third World countries, where the "investments" would be made. The outcry at the absurdities contained in the agreement led to the emergence of a social movement in protest, causing France to withdraw from the negotiations in late 1998 and finally preventing the agreement from being signed ...

From the interactions these events helped to trigger everywhere among those who refuse to accept the scenario of a world wholly controlled by the interests of capital, a number of different forms of opposition to this type of globalization began to organize ...

For about twenty years, the 'owners of the world' had been meeting in a Forum they called the World Economic Forum, which they held in Davos in Switzerland. Once a year this group gathers together all those able to pay 20,000 dollars to hear and talk to the leading thinkers at the service of capital. Davos is where the theory of world domination by capital, within the parameters of neo-liberalism, is constructed and steadily put into practice.

In the light of all this that was going on, a few Brazilians decided that it would be possible to launch a new stage of resistance to this school of thought which today prevails all over the world. Over and beyond the demonstrations and mass protests, though, it seemed possible to move on and to offer specific proposals, to seek concrete responses to the challenges of building "another world", one where the economy would serve people, and not the other way round. The idea was, with the participation of all the organizations that were already networking in the mass protests, to arrange another kind of meeting on a world scale - the World Social Forum - directed to social concerns.

The above text is taken from an article written by Francisco Whitaker, one of the founders of the WSF process. The full article is available at the Brazilian World Social Forum website.

3. When and where did the previous World Social Forums take place?

• WSF 2001 took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 25 to 30. Participation of approximately 20.000 people.
• WSF 2002 took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 31 to February 5. Participation of approximately 50.000 people.
• WSF 2003 took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 23 to 28. Participation of approximately 100.000 people.
• WSF 2004 took place in Mumbai, India, from January 16 to 21. Participation of approximately 115.000 people.
• WSF 2005 took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from January 26 to 31. Participation of approximately 155.000 people.
• WSF 2006 was a polycentric event. It took place in a decentralized way in different places around the world:
• Bamako, Mali, from January 19 and 23. Participation of approximately 25.000 people.
• Caracas, Venezuela, from January 24 to 29. Participation of approximately 80.000 people.
• Karachi, Pakistan, from March 24 to 29.

For more information on the previous WSF's please visit the Brazilian World Social Forum website.

4. What is the WSF 2007 Memory?

WSF 2007 memory project was set up with modest means but trying to answer to a broad concern expressed by the Organizing Committee and African Social Forum. The projects objectives are:

• To document the process of the WSF 2007.
• To facilitate a horizontal and decentralized memory process of the WSF2007 and stimulate organized and non-organized actors to produce content for the memory.
• Give visibility and stimulate work around the proposals of actions and alternatives presented in the Forum.
• Contribute to WSF process visibility and continuity beyond January 2007.
• Help inform and shape the next WSF and social movement processes.

An elaborate strategy was designed to cover three main phases.

➢ Pre-event memory
➢ Event memory
➢ Post-event follow up

Currently, the memory team is implementing the post event phrase to transform the WSF 2007 website into one that can be constantly made reference as it combines the process and event activities.

The website is divided into the WSF Common Space and event site (the one you are at now) of which all these sections have information that would be of interest in seeing how the WSF 2007 came to Africa, those who were actively involved, records of meetings held in preparation, the event it’s self among others information.

5. How can I contribute to the Memory project?

You can contribute by:

• Sending soft copies of activity reports and documents presented during the forum to the memory project at memory@wsf2007.org.
• You can equally post all your reports and documents to your organizations space on the WSF Process site, however kindly notify the memory team by send an e-mail.
• Posting all audio’s and audio visuals to the your organizations space on the WSF Common Space and on the Wikileaks.org website.
  
• Journalist too can send us copies of some of the articles they wrote about the WSF to the memory team: memory@wsf2007.org
• You can also send us links of your web page(s) on any information relating to your activity in the WSF 2007.

Please note that all this information will be posted on the event website (www.wsf2007.org) for public use. Incase you need clarifications, send an e-mail to: memory@wsf2007.org

6. What is the 4th day Proposals?

The 4th day was held on the 24th of January. This was a space given to different organizations to come together and deliberate of future actions on making the world a better place. On this day, 21 halls with were provided where like minded organizations developed future proposals for action.

Some provided dates for activities which can now be got in the calendar of events. A detailed list of the all these proposals can be found on the proposals for future action.

7. How can I participate in the 4th day proposals?

Join and participate in making the world a better place through the over 400 proposals written by a number of organizations during the World Social Forum event in Nairobi.

- look at the proposals of the 4th day. Identify the area of you interest and a proposal for action that you would like to participate in. You would then probably get in touch with the organizers of that particular activity and work together to realize the success of that proposed activity.

- In case you would like to include your own proposals - for other organizations to get in touch with you - please send it to the WSF2007 Secretariat: memory@wsf2007.org. In your email, please indicate the following:

• The title of the proposal,
• Name of the organizations proposing the activity,
• Which of the 21 thematic areas it falls under,
• A brief description of the activity.

8. When was the World Social Forum 2007 held?

The World Social Forum 2007 dates were from January 20th to the 25th, 2007.

The days of the Forum were planned the following way:

9. Where did the 7^th WSF take place?

The World Social Forum 2007 took place in Nairobi, Kenya. The main venue was the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani - about 10 km. north west of the Central Business District of Nairobi. Opening and closing ceremonies were held at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi.

10. WSF 2007 statistics

• 75.000 participants
• 1.130 volunteers
• 800 journalists
• 1.296 self organized activities
• 14 co-organised activities
• 1.140 registered organizations
• 420 proposals for future action collected
• 6 cultural stages within Kasarani

11. Who organized the WSF 2007?

The World Social Forum 2007 was organized by the Eastern Africa Organizing Committee (EAOC) whose secretariat is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The EAOC is composed of representatives from the Kenyan, Ugandan, Tanzanian, Ethiopian and Somali Social Forums. The secretariat is housed within the Kenya Social Forum and hosted by the Social Development Network (SODNET).

Seven Commissions made up the Organizing Committee:

• Content and methodology commission;
• Media commission;
• Resource mobilization commission;
• Venue and logistics commission;
• Youth commission;
• Communication and information commission;
• Mobilization commission.

For further details please contact the WSF2007 secretariat.

The Eastern Africa Organizing Committee works in close collaboration with the International Council of the WSF, its working groups, the WSF Secretariat in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the WSF India organizing Committee, the Africa Social Forum Council and organizations active in the European Social Forum.

12. What were the functions of the Organizing Committee?

The Organizing Committee of the WSF2007 was charged with the successful facilitation of the WSF event in Nairobi. The Committee was populated by individuals and organisations committed to WSF Charter of principles, offering their expertise, time and resources purely on a voluntary basis.

13. Did the World Social Forum use volunteers?

Over 1000 volunteers both International and Nationals provided their technical and general support to the secretariat of the organizing committee of the WSF 2007.

Volunteering was done in different ways - remote, online, or on-site - before, during and after the Nairobi event.

All volunteers agreed to work under Volunteer Policies and Procedures that were developed by the Secretariat.

14. Who can participate in the WSF?

Participation in the Nairobi event and in the process in general was open to all organisations, entities and individuals in agreement with the WSF Charter of principles. In the WSF process, only organisations can register and organise activities, alone or with other partner organisations.

Members of political parties or local authority participated in their individual capacities within the WSF2007 territories, whether at the event or in online (internet) territories.

15. What is a self-organised activity?

A self-organised activity is an activity of varied type (cultural, demonstrative, celebrative, dialogical, practical ...) organised by a group of partner "organisations" (any type of collective entity) or an organisation alone, participating to the world social forum process, and that agree with the WSF charter of principles.

This means that the proponent and partner entities shall be responsible for the preparation, planning, organisation and eventual holding of the activity they want to promote at WSF2007 Nairobi event.

This also includes bringing or procuring relevant equipment such as projectors, video players, computers etc.

The Eastern Africa Organising Committee will provide the space where the activities will be held, and interpretation equipment (in most cases). Please ensure that your activities are timely registered before the deadline so as to appear in the published program of Nairobi WSF2007 event.

16. What were the thematic axes for the WSF2007?

The WSF2007 integrated a series of methodologies that encourages early preparation and collaborative actions that will lead up to the final activities to be held in Nairobi. Following elements drawn from WSF consultation on actions, campaigns and struggles, thematic axes based on responses from social movements were drawn. These were:

1. Building a world of peace, justice, ethics and respect for diverse spiritualities;
2. Liberating the world from the domination of multinational and financial capital;
3. Ensuring universal and sustainable access to the common goods of humanity and nature;
4. Democratization of knowledge and information;
5. Ensuring dignity, defending diversity, guaranteeing gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination;
6. Guaranteeing economic, social, and cultural rights especially the right to food, healthcare, education, housing, employment and decent work;
7. Building a world order based on sovereignty, self-determination and rights of peoples;
8. Constructing a people-centred and sustainable economy;
9. Building real democratic political structures and institutions with full people’s participation on decisions and control of public affairs and resources.

17. Can I register my organization after WSF2007?

You can still register your organization in the WSF process in the WSF Common Space.

18. What is the WSF Common Space ?

The WSF Common Space is designed to provide possibilities for like-minded organizations to prepare and develop joint activities to be held in the WSF event, and register them in Nairobi program. The Common Space offers collaborative tools such as collective mailing lists, edition and publication of documents, bulletin board, storage space.
The Common Space facilitates the process of registering activities, either at its initiation stage or after collaborating with other partners. For more information on the Common Space, please see WSF Common Space presentation.

19. Were the audio of the activities recorded?

There were a few audio recordings done and you can listen to them at www.wikleaks.org and www.wsfprocess.net. However organizations are invited to send their audio recordings to their space on the process site or post it on : www.wikileaks.org

20. How can I contact the WSF2007 secretariat?

c/o SODNET
Masandukuni Lane, Off Vanga Road, Off Gitanga Road
P.O. Box: 63125, 00619 Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: +254-(0)20-3860745 or +254-(0)20-3860746
Fax: +254-(0)20-2713262
E-mail: info@wsf2007.org
Memory Team: memory@wsf2007.org